At College Football Games, Student Sections Likely to Have Empty Seats

Thursday, August 28, 2014
Football stadiums will be packed this weekend for the kickoff of the college season. But many of the student sections are likely to have empty seats. Average student attendance at college football games is down 7.1% since 2009, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal of stadium turnstile records from about 50 public colleges with top-division football teams. The decline was 5.6% at colleges in the five richest conferences. The decrease even at schools with entrenched football traditions and national championships stands in contrast to college football's overall popularity (Wall Street Journal)